Wild Thing, I Think I Love You.

My entry in Paper Mama's photo challenge, favorite photo from October.

I don't have much to say, other than the boy was ridiculously cute last night. His costume was absolutely perfect and looked way too adorable every time he took a step.

He loved all the attention showered on him from complete strangers. I think it made him prance a little bit more.

He surprised me because he had no fear of all the decorations and costumes. He just stared at everything, wide-eyed and amazed.

He learned very quickly to take candy from the buckets. It took a little longer to get him to drop his candy in his bag. His favorite part of the night was probably playing in the buckets of candy, taking a piece out and putting it back in.

Gah. I love that boy.

Linking up with Paper Mama and A Little King and I for Wordless Wednesday.

Startng a Tradition

There's a nice set of traditions my family is known to follow. And we're pretty serious about our traditions.

Like ice cream cake at every birthday celebration.

Black Friday shopping.

Grilled cheese sandwiches after church on Sunday night.

Well, let's go ahead and add another one to the list: pumpkin decorating.

I would say pumpkin carving, but, well, that's not something I want to dive into just yet. Something about the boy running around wielding a knife doesn't sit with me too well. I mean, I like the kid and want to keep him around for a while, you know?

So we opted for paint. Well, I opted for paint. Dada suggested Sharpie markers, but how lame is that? Not to mention, how permanent-on-the-skin-for-a-few-days is that?

Cohen should thank me. Because, y'all, the kid had a blast. Between taste-testing each color (I'm pretty sure the stuff was non-toxic. That's probably a mom-fail.) and throwing the paint bottles and carrying them around toddler-style, I managed to milk out almost an hour of entertainment.

And then we decided to actually do some painting. My biggest stipulation to this new tradition is that the boy has to be in complete control of the decorating process. I want it to be his thing, not mine.

This year, well, he's probably still too little to express himself through pumpkin art, so I did have to help him a little bit. I put a dab of paint on the pumpkin or his hands and let him go to town.

And the boy went to town.

The baby? Thoroughly enjoyed himself. The pumpkin? Proudly displayed on the front porch.

I think it's safe to say that this new tradition is a good one.

Boo Bag -- Mama Made It!

We are now officially ready for Trick or Treating festivities on Monday.

We've got our super-cute Max costume (made by Mom), so cute it's guaranteed to cause rational adults to throw handfuls of candy at our son. Candy that probably cost them $10 a bag.

Candy that Dada and I will surely enjoy for months on end.

And now, we've got a bag to hold all the loot in.  Totally handmade by Mom, a good use of a naptime.

I used this tutorial. I spent the most amount of time making my own pattern for the bag, because those apparently just don't exist. I mean, I know the bag is really just two large rectangles sewn together, and anyone with half their brain should be capable of cutting out 12x18" rectangles without a pattern. But, dang it, I want a pattern!

The bag is bigger than the boy, but it's sure to hold lots and lots of sugary goodness. We'll be able to use it throughout his candy-gathering career. Or until the thought of carrying around anything that, gasp, Mom made embarrasses him too much.

For now, it thrills him. And that makes me smile.

No tricks here -- look at this treat!

Guys, I am a total success today.

I have just wrapped up my biggest sewing endeavor to date. And it looks pretty good.

And all for less than $20! I mean, you can't even buy a costume for that price!

Excuse me while I pat myself on the back. I'm so proud.

I know what you're thinking: "That's a nice costume. But what is it?"

You might be confused because you know I made this and the legs and arms and tail are in the right place. I know, right? I'm awesome.

Officially, it's a wolf.

But unofficially, can you tell by looking at this?

Uh huh, it's Max.

There's going to be a new wild thing walking around this Halloween. A super cute wild thing, if I do say so.

So obviously I didn't come up with this all on my own. I guess I should give credit where credit is due. Jess from Running With Scissors created this wolf costume along with a fox and a bear costume. They are all equally adorable.

You can see the costumes here. Isn't that fox the cutest? I think that's what we'll be doing next year.

I've mentioned before that I'm pretty stupid with the sewing machine. I make a lot of mistakes and get frustrated with most projects before I finish them. But I managed to get this one completed in a little over a week and with only a few snafus.

You know, like figuring out how to sew in a zipper.

But I'm pretty sure that says more about my ability than Jess's pattern.

And you want to know the most amazing part? She's selling the patterns for $6.

Seriously?

We're robbing her.

So if you've got a little one and you need a cute costume this year, do youself a favor and check Jess out.

Now, if only I could convince the hubby to be a wild thing, too...